Member Member at Walden.

A week or so ago i played in a Member- Member at Walden on lake conroe. The tournament is always fun and good people play and i was fortunate enough to be invited to play by a member that ai have played with before in the past.

He is a good player and a single digit handicap player as well. About an 8 i believe. I am a 4 currently but seems to be going down. I have shot a few good rounds in the senior Interclub and now i this tournament as well. We were folded to play the ball down in the tournament which i prefer however the ground was wet and there were more than a few mud balls through out the day on Saturday. The first round of competition was a scramble. Should have been what we accelerate at however we did not put well at all. We shot 68, which was not the best and was good enough for 4th gross and well the bottom of the pack for net since we just got 4 strokes. The player w played with shot 63 gross and had 4 shots so 59 for them.

I figured if we shot the same gross score the second day we would make a move on the field. The second day format was one best ball. We again shot 70 gross and 68 net. We did pick up a great deal on the field but not quite enough to get first gross. We missed out on first by 2 shots and yes it was all putting.

I played well on Sunday and shot 72. But missed several putts that i should have made.

I will tell you i have found a putting trainer that is called the putting Arc. It is a device that lays on the ground and your get your putter to follow it while you stroke a putt. It gives you the path so that you can release the putter. It seems that because i come up short on long putts. When i release the putter i am around the hole and it makes the 10 footers easier to make.

I will say i hit the ball well on Sunday, i hit every fairway but one 18, and hot 14 greens in regulation. I got up and down 2 times and 3 putted two times as well. I made birdies on 4,7,9 and 16. Should have made one on 17 but missed a 4 1/2 footer.

As i have said before if you if you average 29 putts or below you should be able to shoot 72 or below. I did it with 31 putts only because i hit more greens than average.

I also had more birdies than average.

I will continue to say if you average 29 putts per round you are on your way to lowering your score. I would have shot 70 instead of 72. Either round is respectable but it makes it a better feelings with how i hot the ball to shoot a lower score.

I have worked on my tutting now for a week and getting better feel for what i need to do. I need to move my ball position closer to my left foot and have more weight on my left. This allows me to not forward press so much. I also learned that my eyes may have been over the ball from ball to toes but when i looked at my head it was behind the ball and it was causing me to start the putter outside and then cup it going through. By moving the ball and my weight forward toward the hole i have found that the ball rolls much more smoothly and seems to not bounce or hop as much right after i make contact. This was causing the ball to come up short on long putts. By moving my weight forward i have eliminated the need to press forward and now. I am hitting the ball with an equal stroke to the ground and not a downward motion causing the ball to bounce up. I am also able to release the putter through the ball now and not have the feel i have to hit the ball which also caused me to use to much hands during the stroke.

It is all still a new thought process and when you don’t play every day it is more difficult to have the thought process to work through something that is difficult. I am learning many new things as i am going through this process and i am going to be a great putter soon. I have always been a good short game player and being able to that the difficult shots so now that i have the right process to putting i a anxious to get out and play to see how it will work o the course.

As always keep putting, believe in yourself and nothing can beat hard work. You can do anything you desire if you try and work at it enough.